A 68-year-old woman who continued to help others despite being diagnosed with cancer is the first recipient of a new award celebrating community champions.

Janet Enever, who is now in remission after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer four years ago, has won Nottinghamshire County Council's first Chairman's Community Heroes award.

Janet, of Brinsley, organises a meal for around 150 elderly and disabled residents of the village every Christmas.

She has also raised money for both the Queen's Medical Centre and Nottingham City Hospital, and offers a variety of support to others, including helping people fill in forms for benefits and buying her neighbour milk if the weather is bad.

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Janet was nominated for the award by Laura Sisson, who praised her for being "remarkable".

She said: "Janet goes above and beyond to help anyone, no matter what, even if it is just to get her neighbour some milk from the shop when the weather is bad.

"She is there if you want to talk about anything and is always helping different charities to raise money, even when she was very ill with cancer, she never stopped helping others."

Councillor John Handley with community champion Janet Enever (Image: Nottinghamshire County Council)

Chairman of Nottinghamshire County Council, councillor John Handley, chose Janet as the winner after looking through all of the nominations for the award.

He said: "I’d firstly like to congratulate the first nominees of our community heroes awards. The standard of entry was extremely high and it was difficult to choose an overall winner as there were so many fantastic achievements.

"Janet Enever deserves recognition for everything that she does in her local community. She goes above and beyond to help anyone. Nothing is too much trouble for her to help where she can.

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"The standard of entries that we have received reinforces that as a county we are very fortunate with the quality of volunteers we have."

After hearing that she had won the award, Janet, a mother of two and grandmother of four, paid tribute to her husband Brian who she said encourages her in her efforts to help others.

She said: "I am over the moon to receive this award. I just want to help others and have done all my life. If I can do something that makes someone else’s day easier then I will always try to assist."

Nottinghamshire County Council's search for community heroes continues, and every two months the chairman will select one person who they believe deserves an "extra special thank you" and will win the award.